


The Monster Within

by KrysKrossZee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Good Peter Pettigrew, M/M, Marvelously Magical Mini Bang 2020, Nothing happens til Remus is of age, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26238301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee
Summary: Remus has always known that he is different, but when he realises that he might in fact be dangerous to his family and friends, he doesn't know who to turn to. A stranger invites him to learn at his school, amongst others like him, and who would Remus be to say no? Remus' life starts to turn around when he finds that there are people that can help him to control the monster under his bed, or as it turns out - the monster within..
Relationships: Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin/Professor X, Sirius Black/Lily Evans Potter
Kudos: 2
Collections: Marvelously Magical Mini Bang 2020





	The Monster Within

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Marvelously Magical for hosting this event, to Seth Wren for betaing, and to UltimateUndesirable for my artwork.

He’d never been considered normal but the first time that he’d really noticed that he wasn’t like the other children, that he wasn’t like his friends, was when he was asked to go to a sleepover and he had to say no. His parents had never fully explained to him why he wasn’t allowed to go and spend the night at other people’s houses, just that it was not allowed. Remus had felt his heart break when his father had looked him in the eye and told him that he couldn’t spend the night at James’, that it wasn’t safe for him to spend the night at James’. At first he’d thought that it was just because his father was being overprotective but after a massive tantrum on his part, his parents had sat him down and explained.

Remus’ ability to turn into a wolf was apparently not something that any other child could do. So he found out that while his parents were being overprotective, they were doing it for good reason. He couldn’t help but be mad at them anyway for keeping something like this from him. Not the wolf - he knew about the wolf. His wolf was part of him and while it was something that scared him, he was used to it. What he wasn’t used to was knowing that this wasn’t what everyone else experienced.

He now understood why his parents had sworn him to secrecy all this time. It hadn’t made sense now looking back on it, but as a younger child he had never once thought about questioning their decisions. He hadn’t ever felt the need to do that but looking back now he realised that there were probably more red flags that he hadn’t picked up on.

Remus slept under his bed that night. It was his safe place, though he could never understand why. He supposed that it was probably something to do with it being a small, enclosed area, but he wasn’t going to question that at all.

He slept for a long time, just curled up there under the bed; but when he woke up, the bed was no longer on top of him but thrown across the room. He sat up slowly, his body protesting. Every inch of him ached and it didn't take long for him to realise that it was because he'd had a rough night.

He swallowed thickly as he finally managed to get up off the floor and backed away towards the door. Now that he was fully aware that this wasn't normal, it terrified him. The amount of damage he could cause when the wolf took over in the safety of his own room was more than enough evidence for him to understand just why his parents had kept the truth about his condition from him. He had a feeling as well that now that he was getting older, the wolf was getting stronger, but that was just a theory. He'd never asked what he was or even attempted to understand, but something told him that he needed to know all of the ins and outs now.

He stood there with his back to his door for a while just looking at the scene of destruction before him and trying to keep his breathing slow and steady. There would be no point in letting himself freak out about what he was capable of, after all. Remus had mostly got his breathing under control when a knock on the door beside his left ear made him jump.

"Remus?" His mother's voice called and he felt the door handle rattle which he immediately grabbed so that she wouldn't be able to come in.

"Give - give me a minute!" He called back to her, though he had no idea how he was going to manage to straighten his room out in sixty seconds. He knew his parents were more than used to things like this happening but that didn't mean that he was proud of it or that he wanted them to see.

"Okay. But get dressed please. There's someone here to talk to you." His mother's voice was slightly strained, giving off a tone that Remus couldn't quite read.

He knew that she was probably worried about him - she was always worried about him, but this was something different. He couldn't read her without seeing her face though so there wasn't much point in speculating. He took a breath and tried to ignore the new location of his bed as he grabbed some clothes out of his wardrobe and changed.

* * *

Remus didn't recognise the young wheelchair bound man who was sitting in his kitchen sharing tea with his mother. He didn't even look vaguely familiar and yet Remus felt as if he was meant to know who this person was. Instead he just stood there in the doorway, like a deer in headlights while his mum showed this stranger photos. Remus dreaded to think what the photos were of but that was probably the least of his worries.

"You must be Remus." The man said as he noticed Remus standing there. His voice was soft, smooth, and even though Remus was still feeling pretty anxious about what had happened over night, the man's voice took away some of that anxiety for reasons that the boy couldn't explain.

"Uh - who are you?" He asked as he looked from the man to his mother and back again. She seemed to be at ease around him and Remus wasn't too sure what that meant.

"My name is Charles Xavier. I'm a teacher at a school in America for children like you." The man explained before he gestured to the seat across from him and his mother got up to make him a cup of tea like she did most mornings.

"Children like me?" Remus repeated, a frown creasing his forehead as he sat down. He wasn't sure what that meant or if it was a good or bad thing. His parents had pointed out just the day before how dangerous it was for him to be around other people so he couldn't see how a school full of dangerous children was a good idea.

"Yes. Children like you who have unique abilities. Our school strives to teach children ways in which they can control those abilities." Charles explained before his gaze met Remus'. "Your parents have asked me if I can help you but I told them I would need to talk to you. You'd have to move there with me in order to attend, and attending a school so far away from home isn't for everyone."

Remus wrapped his hands around his mug as his mother passed it to him. He couldn't imagine leaving her or his father but he also found that he was intrigued by the idea of meeting others like himself.

"Are you like me?" He found himself as he released his cup of tea slowly and tried to make himself look a little more relaxed, playing on the idea that he might be able to convince himself that he was in fact relaxed.

"If you mean do I have special abilities, then yes, but I'm not exactly like you. I've yet to meet two mutants who have the same abilities, but that doesn't mean that we haven't begun to understand how each person's abilities work." Most of Charles' words were going over the top of Remus' head but he found that he really did appreciate that the man was treating him as an adult instead of some dumb kid. It was almost as if he was going to get some sort of say in his future, rather than continue to let his parents control his life.

Remus gave a small nod as he tried to understand everything that was being said and took a sip of his tea in order to give him a little bit of time to think of what to say next.

"How - uh - how…" He began but slowly trailed off as he found that that particular question wasn't going anywhere. He took a deep breath as he decided to try again. "How long would I be at your school for?"

"For as long as you feel that you need to be there." Charles replied. "Students usually decide to go home when they turn eighteen and graduate, but you can leave any time."

Remus nodded again, his mind flickering to James and how much it would hurt to leave him, but something told him that his friend would want him to look after himself. "Okay." He said quietly. "And if I was to go with you, when would it be?" He was trying to think rationally about all of this, even though he was pretty sure that it was the biggest thing to ever happen in his life.

"I leave tonight." Charles told him, his smile making Remus feel like if he said that he was going too it wouldn't be the worst decision of his life.

Remus swallowed thickly at that thought. Could he really just up and leave like that? Usually he was the sort of kid to overthink just about everything but he didn't have the same amount of time that he would use to obsess over a decision like this, not that he had ever had to make a decision as big as this before in his life. He knew what his parents wanted him to do, they had asked Charles here in the first place, so it wasn't as if he could ask his mother what she thought.

"You don't need to decide right now." Charles reassured him as if reading his mind. "You don't even need to decide whether you want to attend the school by tonight. You can join us when you're ready."

"Thank you." Remus said quietly. It helped to know that he wasn't on a timer. It felt like there was nothing worse in the world than to have to make a decision on a deadline.

Charles stayed for a little while longer, bringing out a brochure of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. There was something about the images that drew the boy in, something about the school that intrigued him, and he could certainly see himself going there. By the time Charles left, Remus had already made up his mind - he was going to attend the school.


End file.
